The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News
TSHOLOTSHO flood victims who were resettled at Tshino and Sawudweni villages in the district’s Ward Six find themselves in a difficult situation as the rains have started before their houses have been completed.
The villagers, who are putting up in tents on the interim, said they have been soaked in heavy rains three times so far since the onset of the rainy season. Plans by the Government were to complete construction of the flood victims’ homesteads before the rains start.
Sunday News visited the two villages last week where villagers called on the Government to provide them with new tents while they wait for their houses to be completed. The villagers said the heavy rains that hit their area on Wednesday last week damaged most tents. This, the villagers said, was exposing both children and adults to the danger of contracting water-borne diseases.Their belongings are also at risk of being soaked and destroyed, as was the case last year when the floods displaced the villagers.
While the villagers, largely subsistence farmers, would have loved to welcome the rains, their sentiment is, however, dissonant, as the rains are not making their habitat comfortable. As if to add salt to injury, the resettled villagers’ neighbours, just a stone throw away are enjoying the rains and have already started planting for the summer cropping season. The flood victims can only watch in envy.
Bambanani village head, at Tshino site, Mr Robert Ncube said some of the villagers were already contemplating going back to their original homesteads.
“A lot of people wish they could go back to their original homesteads and carry on with their lives. Living conditions have been unbearable,” he said. Mr Ncube added: “The tents are leaking such that when it rains, water flows inside. On Wednesday last week we experienced some violent rains which damaged a lot of property, including tents.”
Mr Ncube said two elderly women escaped unhurt on Wednesday night after water collected on the roof of their tent and wore it down until it collapsed.
“The tent collapsed just as we managed to get them out of the tent. They had to spend the night at their neighbours’ tent,” said the Bambanani village head.
One of the houses still under construction and had been roofed had its roof blown away by the heavy winds which characterised last Wednesday’s rains.
Ms Sukoluhle Sibanda who was resettled from Mahlaba Village said she wishes to go back to her original homestead to start preparing for the summer cropping season. But she cannot as she and fellow villagers are providing labour in the construction of the houses. That puts her in a difficult situation, as she and fellow flood victims were not allocated any fields at the new resettlement.
“The Government is only catering for these homesteads only, no fields or pastures for our livestock. So I have to go back to my fields in Mahlaba Village to farm because that is my only source of livelihood,” she said.
Ms Sibanda said she left livestock in Mahlaba Village and of the 13 goats that she had, eight had been eaten by hyenas.
“We are asking the Government to allocate us fields and pasture land here. My original homestead is about six kilometres from here and I can’t travel that distance everyday to work on my fields as well as take care of my livestock. It remains risky to go and stay there because the rains have started and last year’s mishap may recur.”
Another villager from Sawudweni Village Mr Sand Zulu added, “With our children learning here at Tshino, we can’t leave them to stay alone while we go back to work on the fields. We are also providing labour here for the construction of the houses which makes it difficult for us to go back and prepare for the summer cropping season,” he said.
Some builders who refused to be named said shortage of material such as river and pit sand, cement, bricks and roofing material was stalling progress on the construction work. Tsholotsho Rural District Council chairperson Mrs Lindiwe Mkhwananzi could not be reached for comment.
However, Minister of State for Matabeleland North Province Cde Thokozile Mathuthu yesterday said the situation at Tshino and Sawudweni villages was now being handled by the Civil Protection Unit (CPU).
“The CPU is the one that is now responsible for assisting those people. It’s not only that area that was affected by the recent rains. Houses in Bubi were also razed to the ground. There are people who need assistance there as well,” she said.
At least 30 houses that are under construction at Tshino Village have reached roof level while some are still at the foundation level. At Esawudweni village less than 10 houses are at an advanced stage. The entire project will see a total of 319 homesteads being constructed at the two settlements. Over 800 villagers were displaced in February this year after Cyclone Dineo-induced floods ravaged their homes. Affected villages included Mahlosi, Mahlaba, Thamuhla, Mbamba, Mele, Lutshome, Maphili and Mbanyana. -@irielyan
